The Snarling Girl and Other Essays

by Elisa Albert Narrated by Elisa Albert

Overview

In sixteen essays published over the past decade, acclaimed novelist Elisa Albert considers everything from the creative process to reproductive justice, ambition to Ani DiFranco, Judaism to the ethos of punk, all in the midst of making a home in the strange city of Albany, New York.



With wit and wariness, skepticism and surrender, this collection offers a first-of-its-kind window into the life and mind of an author Shalom Auslander once called "Bukowski with a vagina and a motherf*cker of a hangover."



Whether writing about doula training, struggling to embroider local community, art vs commerce, antisemitism, or growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, Albert is heartfelt, rigorous, and delightfully self-aware.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"The Snarling Girl is Elisa Albert at her finest: vulnerable and acerbic, devastating and insightful."—Foreword Review

"Albert’s voice is like none oth­er—brazen, provoca­tive, and hon­est. It makes clear that this snarling girl isn’t afraid to ​'go there'...Ulti­mate­ly, there’s an essay in The Snarling Girl for all of us—per­haps because there’s a snarler in all of us, each of us relieved that we’re not the first to feel the stu­pid / out­ra­geous / ter­ri­fy­ing / beau­ti­ful things that this writer has her­self felt." —Jewish Book Council

“This snarling girl has got it: The voice. The voice has a backbeat and a deep supply of rueful wit, and on the top layer the voice curls around to have a look at itself questioningly. As a result, the entranced reader will follow it anywhere, even to Albany.”—Jonathan Lethem, author of Brooklyn Crime Novel

"Elisa Albert doesn't screw around. In the range and the intensity of this prose is a raw honesty I find riveting, comic (always) and ultimately moving. What I take away is a kind of joyous embrace of our common sorrows, and I'm grateful as hell to have all these essays in one place." —Peter Orner, author of Am I Alone Hereand Love and Shame and Love

“I’m a hater but I like Elisa Albert, an actual genius.” —Samantha Irby, author of Quietly Hostile

“The queen of No Bullshit. The barometer of how a person can be emotionally bare and honest without being treacly or a con man.” —Heidi Julavits, author of Directions to Myself

“With her roving, insatiable mind, Albert reclaims the personal as intellectual, political, and essential. She is never afraid to say what others would repress or dilute. To read her is an urgent, important call to try harder to speak truth and speak it boldly.” —Merritt Tierce, author of Love Me Back

"When it comes to essay collections, this is how it should be done. Equal parts acerbic, insouciant, insightful, and moving, The Snarling Girl is so tonally-rich and stylistically fluid that you’ll consume page after page and still want more. Albert is a writer of immense talent, wisdom, and wit, and the way she takes on her choice of subjects (contemporary feminism, motherhood, literary ambition, and the intersections of all of the above, to name just a few) is nothing short of brilliant. Do yourself a favor and do not hesitate to read The Snarling Girl. It’s a great book. Full stop." —Rone Shavers author of Silverfish

Product Details

BN ID:	2940193992127
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/25/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Maybe you’ll be an actress. Maybe you’ll do stand up. Maybe you’ll suck dick for money. Maybe you’ll wear intense glasses and make dramatic proclamations into a swank office telephone. Maybe you’ll meet your married lover for a drink on a rainy night wearing nothing under a coat. Maybe you’ll make art in an airy loft in a deserted part of town. Surely there’ll be long ruminative walks through the park. The voice-over will be witty as hell.

You can be weird in New York, that much is certain. You can be strange and melancholy and buxom and tall and dark and discerning. You can behave generally like the exuberant dork bitch dyke intellectual you semi-consciously understand yourself to be. Apparently they value that sort of thing there!

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